Minutes from November 5, 2009 Belfast School Council Meeting(unapproved)

Belfast School Council: November 5, 2009

Attendance: 18 parents in attendance, Belfast Principal, Belfast Asst-Principal

Motion called to Order and 2nd

Introduction:

Approval of meeting minutes
Motion made be and 2nded
Approval of agenda:
- Additions-recycling
- Old business-5.5, art centered learning
Motion made by and 2nded

Old business:-.
Lunchroom: supervision kinks are being worked out. Any money that may be found will be put back into the lunch room supervisors. Administration is always available to help with Supervision. Grade 6 students have really stepped up and are helping out with the little ones in grades one and two. Lunch room supervisors are aware of allergic reactions and special medical needs of the children, training may come in the form of school nurse training.

There are always 3 supervisors on the field. Asst Principal can encourage children to eat their lunches if this is a Concern for parents.
Hot lunches will probably not be happening because of temp-concerns.

Volunteer Co-ordination-
- Lukewarm response to sheet sent out to parents.
- How can teachers be notified of parent volunteers.
- Coordinator can be e-mailed with a request for parent volunteers
-Cordinator also has organized a list of needed volunteers for the play she can be reached by email

Fundraisers-As of the meeting date only 2 cookie dough orders have come in so far.
- A reminder to parents that orders are due Nov 13.09 should go out on Monday November 9, 2009
Fun lunch-
The first scheduled fun lunch is going to be Thursday November 26. This is going to be a pizza lunch. The lunch consists of a large slice of pizza and a drink of either choc/white milk or water for a cost of $4.00 .
Notices should go out by Nov. I2 and be back by Nov 19.

Additional fun lunches could be:
-Hotdogs and drinks from Extreme Hot Dog
-Subway fun lunch

Concessions at the play? Parent volunteers would be needed. Water and candy bags were suggestions. Parents would love to help out with this. Suesical related items such as rubber eggs. Motion made and 2nded

Casino update: $ 57958.07 balance
See casino fund sheet provided by casino coordinator. We have spent all the money we earned from the Casino fundraiser. The dates for the upcoming casino are either or April, May or June. We are waiting for confirmation on the actual date.

- Calgary Reads update by Asst Principal.
7 volunteers are working with 9 children currently.
- Belfast has 10 volunteers that are willing to work with the Calgary reads program.
- The children involved in this program are really going to benefit from being involved.

-Belfast to invite Susan Church (area 2 Director) to the school to discuss the designation of Arts centered learning program.

New Business:

- Traffic concerns:
Drop off zone to drop and go will work well once the parents get used to the idea.

- regarding signage:
Chairperson is looking into this with the City... Speed humps are going to be installed on 17A st near the ballpark north of the school.

- 50th Anniversary Update:
- Coordinator held a productive meeting on Nov. 3. The original school is 80 years old while the school we now know is going to be 50 years old in 2010. A neighbor of Susan attended school in the original building and will be invited to attend the celebrations.
See minutes for further details; looking for sponsors to cover the cost of this event.

Recycling:
Extra large green buckets will be sent to the school from the City of Calgary. How will the recycling be picked up? Ideas are being circulated.

ABRC-has a contest every year to see Which school can recycle the most every year, the winning school can leave up to $2500-•

Treasurer:
$1460.00 deposited although we still have to pay for the SUTP book.

Agenda:
In June a motion was made to pay for anything over and above $5.00
260 agendas were ordered and 220 children are enrolled. All monies collected from the bottle collections will go directly into the Belfast school council fund. A motion was made that these funds would go to pay for the remainder owing on the school agendas. 2nded

Key Communicator: attended an Area 2 system meeting in the form of a webinar. See Nancy’s report for more information. A motion was made to join CPAC a cost of $40.00 2nded

Principle’s report:
Since the outbreak of H1N1 more cleaner and sanitizers have been ordered, children are being watched for signs of illness, teachers are encouraging children to Wash their hands frequently and will be reminded to wash before and after reboot.
Teachers are going to have a teacher Reboot the same day the children are enjoying their fun lunch. Coffee will be brought in from the local coffee house “trembling cup”
Options are in full swing no and the theme is storytelling. The children have chosen a medium to partake in i.e. Quitar, drumming or clay.

Curriculum Changes: No support for the Arts in elementary and Jr. high schools. We are of course concerned with these proposed changes and are watching this closely. Principal has more information regarding this.

- Provincial achievement test results are in. Students who were in grades 3 or 6 in the 2008/2009 school year will receive their marks on their report cards.

School Development plan: reading-target all of our Readers, school wide reading is a priority. Every student has been tested and their leading levels will be available to each parent at parent teacher interviews.
Personal development-How can kids set their own goals and asses their own learning styles, character development and citizenship development?

Parent teacher interview
- Multiple intelligence and how they learn and goal setting.
The recording and selling of the school play can absolutely not happen. Parents are encouraged to take still photos or video of appropriate length of their child.

Does Belfast school council want to join or set-up a School blog?

Health Committee: Health committee is in full swing. Our school nurse has been re-assigned to Hi N1clinics. We are looking into getting a fridge to run a Milk program. Parents are ready to step in and help when needed.

Grade 5 vaccinations are still a go but may be postponed due to H1N1

Meeting adjourned at 8:45.